Need help achieving this look

Jimmyd. I'm not familiar with dVX100 specific settings so I can only assume it has similar "general settings" as other cams like for example the ability to lower saturation, contrast, things of that nature. Also I'm not sure if the DVX is inherently contrasty and saturated like some of the DSLR's are (especially since their HD sharpness adds to the feel of contrastiness) but the general recommendation to match that footage of halloween I would think would be first to lower saturation/contrast if possible, play around with lowering it to the lowest levels you can and then work from there and see how the footage looks. Then once you have done everything in camera, then you can move on to the next phase of trying to match it via post production color grading etc.
 
PerroneFord said:
Most efficient is certainly not the way to best quality. Choose which method you want, and tell me what software you have.
Click to expand...

Most definitely, best quality is the way I would like to go PerroneFord...well, the best quality that this camera and software can produce anyway. I'm tired of noodeling around with export settings for months and still getting mediocre results, maybe with your help i can get something that looks good.

When I bought the dvx100b its came with Premiere Pro 2.0, DVD architect 4.5, and Magic Bullet Looks 1.1, or 2.0, not sure. I have a DVD re-writer, regular 4 gig DVD's

I would just like to get the best quality results that these tools can produce, I'm not delusional thinking that I can get big budget, Hollywood output with this equipment, but it should look better than what I've been getting so far lol.

I would consider buying other software if you suggested something and you really thought it would be needed for better results , but this is still just a hobby for me, I do have a day job lol, but anything within reason, I would definitely consider.

It's so awesome that you would take the time out to impart some wisdom on me...really, much appreciated, I'm stoked to hear what you have to say.

Thanks PerroneFord
 
Thanks for the information Homunculus, and the link to that thread, it was helpful indeed, every little bit helps. There is so much more to making movies than I had originally thought lol...so much more.

Peace out.
 
I tend to shoot clean for HD and certainly SD, but those grabs instantly say 1/8 or 1/4 BPM to me. One of my favorite filters for HD when I have to soften or diffuse. Classic Softs (up to 1/2 for HD) are excellent as well, though I prefer to avoid overly soft, diffused and "bloomy" looking images. You should also test the very good Ultra Con(trast) filters from Tiffen.

http://www.tiffen.com/userimages/BPM_WBPM.pdf
http://www.schneideroptics.com/pdfs/filters/classicsoft.pdf

Before D/I, you had three-light color timing and optical printers - a great deal less was possible in post for image-manipulation. Much more was accomplished in-camera back then.
 
Thanks for that info Erik Olsen, your absolutely right , that first picture in the ad really has almost the exact look , very cool, I've never heard of those Black Pro-Mist diffusion filters, I'm kinda new to all this , but I have looked at other filters, even bought a couple, never seen those before, wonder what they cost , imma go look into it right now , sweeeet, thanks for the links.

Learning something everyday on dvxuser
 
JimmyDevolo said:
Most definitely, best quality is the way I would like to go PerroneFord...well, the best quality that this camera and software can produce anyway. I'm tired of noodeling around with export settings for months and still getting mediocre results, maybe with your help i can get something that looks good.

When I bought the dvx100b its came with Premiere Pro 2.0, DVD architect 4.5, and Magic Bullet Looks 1.1, or 2.0, not sure. I have a DVD re-writer, regular 4 gig DVD's

I would just like to get the best quality results that these tools can produce, I'm not delusional thinking that I can get big budget, Hollywood output with this equipment, but it should look better than what I've been getting so far lol.

I would consider buying other software if you suggested something and you really thought it would be needed for better results , but this is still just a hobby for me, I do have a day job lol, but anything within reason, I would definitely consider.

It's so awesome that you would take the time out to impart some wisdom on me...really, much appreciated, I'm stoked to hear what you have to say.

Thanks PerroneFord
Click to expand...

I think this question/answer is going to veer the thread. SO start a new thread over in the DVX100 area, and direct me to it, and I'll answer. I think we've diverted the thread here enough.
 
Ok,sounds good PerroneFord, yea I guess I got off topic here lol, I was just stoked about the possibility of getting some info from you, imma go start a new thread right now at DVX100. I'll call it DVX100b to NLE to DVD Workflow.

Cool, ty
 
On the Color Correction front. I also am not an expert with the DVX settings or Magic Bullet, which I just got. However, as kind of a demonstration, I put together the following. It is just an example of the amount of control you have over the look of your footage with the simple tools that is in every NLE. I tried to replicate a look that was similar to the frame grabs from "Halloween" in the OP.

I grabbed a PD-150 and shoot some footage of my neighborhood. It was a sunny day, with variable clouds, and my first choices were to wait for cloud cover, and for a more cinema look, to shoot in 16:9.

Shoots in sunshine:

Sequence2.jpg


Streetlooksunshine.jpg


Shoots with cloud cover:

streetviewnorthcloudcover.jpg


Streetviewsouthcloudcover.jpg


Then I loaded the footage (cloud cover shoots) into FCS 7 and only manipulated Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Saturation and added a little tint, "Sepia".

Streetviewnorthcced.jpg


streetviewsouthcced.jpg


Here are the FCS screen grabs:

Brightness, Contrast, Gamma and Tint (Sepia):

FCScapture.jpg


And for saturation, I decreased it in the 3 way color correction filter:

Numeric view:

3wayCCnumeric-1.jpg


Visual view:

3wayCCviewvisual-1.jpg


As you can see, it is not perfectly like the "Halloween" but it is a start. Get into your NLE and see what you can do. There is a lot of control in there, if you get to know it.

I hope that helps.
 
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as you can see from the above the thing that immediately made it look more like halloween was the cloud cover shot that produced the effect perone and I were talking about with flat colors no shadows etc. whereas the bright/sunny day that have those nice shadows everywhere produce an overly 'summer' and jolly feeling that is at odds with the original cinematography
 
Homunculus said:
as you can see from the above the thing that immediately made it look more like halloween was the cloud cover shot that produced the effect perone and I were talking about with flat colors no shadows etc. whereas the bright/sunny day that have those nice shadows everywhere produce an overly 'summer' and jolly feeling that is at odds with the original cinematography
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
David G.Smith, thanks so much for that post, so good of you to make time and put all that together for me, I appreciate it, big time, thank you. Lol your neighborhood actually looks like the same neighborhood from the film lol, how cool is that.

I have a link to the movie, Halloween, in-case anybody wants to watch it, to get a closer look. I'm not sure if this type of thing is frowned upon at dvxuser, by that I mean posting links to movie sites, if so I apologize, but I did not create the site and I did not upload the movie, it was already there. I myself do not see anything wrong with watching uploaded movies, but again, if this is not acceptable here I apologize, and it won't happen again.

Here's the link:

http://stagevu.com/video/uznmlzhhnpqg

Oh by the way, to anybody with a DVX, on the weekend I purchased Barry Greens, The DVX Book, I recommend it highly to anybody with a DVX 100, 100A or 100B, was worth every penny, then some. Thanks Barry, helped me out a lot.

Thank you to all that posted here.

Cheers
 
Jimmy, no problem. The thing is, that that did not take that much time, which was kind of the point. I just want to show the effect of really simple controls. I think that one of the major errors a lot of low budget filmmakers make is not utilizing the tools they have to really do what they think is best for the look of their projects, and the best way to learn them is to get in there and try stuff. Good luck.
 
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